ChaharShanbe Suri (Festival of Fire)

The last Wednesday of the Persian year is ChaharShanbe Suri, the ancient “Festival of Fire”. Unfortunately, like other key Persian terms, ChaharShanbe Suri, that literally means Wednesday Feast, doesn’t have a unique spelling in English. ChaharShanbe, Charshanbe, 4Shanbe, Chaharshanbeh, Charshanbeh or 4Shanbeh means “Wednesday”, and Suri, Soori, Souri, or Sori means “Feast”. In fact, these two words don’t have a unique spelling in English and it’s so stupid. I hope after the Mullahs, Persian terms can have a unique spelling in English, at least the key Persian terms, including the ancient Iranian Festivals. Anyway, ChaharShanbe Suri, or the ancient Festival of Fire in Iran, dating back to 4000 years ago since the early Zoroastrian era, which is still celebrated the night before the last Wednesday of the year.

As we said before, the ancient ChaharShanbe Suri is the root of Halloween. Before Islam, ChaharShanbe Suri was known as “Night of Souls” and “Night of Fravasis” in Iran. The ancient traditions of ChaharShanbe Suri can show you why ChaharShanbe Suri is the root of Halloween. One of these ancient traditions is “Banging spoons (Qashoq Zani)”. The people bang spoons against plates or bowls, both for entertainment and as a means of beating out the evil spirits. The people disguise themselves, each with a spoon and a plate, go to the doors of their neighbors’ houses and bang the spoons against the plates. In response the householder puts a small gift -a fruit, some nuts, etc – on each plate. This tradition that is still alive in the rural areas in Iran, was a symbol of ChaharShanbe Suri in the past. But the Islamists could destroy it in the urban areas, and now, only “Bush-igniting” is the symbol of ChaharShanbe Suri.

Bush-igniting is the principal ceremony of the night, since the ancient time. While the flames flicker in the dusk men, women, and children jump over them, singing “let your ruddiness be mine, my paleness yours”. The Mullahs say that this ceremony is non-Islamic, because the Zoroastrians, i.e. the ancient Iranians, were the first people in the world that had Festival of Fire. The Mullahs are the main enemy of Iranians and the Iranian traditions, but the stupid West and their shameless media pretend that the Mullahs are representative of Iranians! For the first years after the Islamic Revolution of 1979 the Mullahs prohibited celebration of ChaharShanbe Suri declaring it a relic of fire worship, but the people persisted in lighting the fires, and the Mullahs could not succeed. Now, the Mullahs still say that ChaharShanbe Suri is non-Islamic, but the people shit on the Mullahs and don’t care about their bullshits. ChaharShanbe Suri has become “the day of fight against the Mullahs and their Arab traditions”.

Some scholars say that “Suri” means “Red” and “ChaharShanbe Suri” means “Red Wednesday”. There are many writers, from Biruni (11th century) to the first modern European tourists in the 17th century, that have written about the traditions and history of ChaharShanbe Suri. “Smashing the pot (Kuze-Shekani)”, Fortune telling (Fal) and Fortune hearing (Fal-goosh), Burning rue seeds (esfand) , Dropping the sash (Shal- Andazi), “Untying” one’s luck (Bakht-Goshaei), in addition to eating special foods (Aash) and special snacks (Ajil), and music and dance are among the ancient traditions of ChaharShanbe Suri. The Mullah regime and their thugs desperately try to fight against the ancient Persian traditions, but the people don’t care about the Mullahs. ChaharShanbe Suri is the only day in today’s Iran that the people, boys and girls, dance in the streets and public places, and the Mullah thugs often daren’t attack or arrest the people.

ChaharShanbe Suri’s traditions are among the ancient traditions. The pots were smashed after the jumping over fire, because it was said that smashing a pot transfers misfortune from the people of the house to the pot. Burning rue seeds (esfand), that is still a widespread practice in most regions of Great Persia, was considered a necessary precaution against the evil eye and malevolent spirits, devils, and genies. And since the ancient time, women who believe their luck to be “tied” because they are still unmarried, have no children, or are ill-treated by their husbands, performed a wide range of rituals on the eve of ChaharShanbe Suri. But in the recent decade, Chaharshanbe Suri has become a special night that the people fight against the Mullahs and the Islamic regime with using firecrackers. Now, in Chaharshanbe Suri, the cities look like the battle field, and the sound of explosion never stop. The combination of explosions and ambulance sirens is so weird in Chaharshanbe Suri. The people who prefer to be traditionalist have their own private parties or try to have fun in the traditional way, without explosion and firecracker.

In the recent decade, ChaharShanbe Suri and its ceremony is not normal and is not like the past decades and the past centuries, but it’s a special day of fight against the Mullahs and their laws, by using firecrackers. The traditions of ChaharShanbe Suri don’t have any religious meaning for today’s Iranians. The people just want to have fun, and the ancient traditions become secular. It’s like what you can see in other parts of the modern world. The Mullahs and fanatics, who are enemies of joy and happiness, are enemies of the ancient Persian traditions, including ChaharShanbe Suri. They love war, hatred, and violence, not love, peace, and happiness. Iranians had more than 40 joyful festivals in each year, and were among the happiest nations in the world, but after Islam, the uncultured Arabs tried to annihilate the Iranian culture. But Iranians kept the main parts of their ancient culture safe, and now after 1400 years, they want to say goodbye to the last remaining of the uncultured Arabs (i.e. the Mullahs and the Islamists) in Iran.

You can find more information about the history and the tradition of ChaharShanbe Suri, in our previous post about Iranian ancient Fire Festival.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 14th, 2012 at 8:30 pm and is filed under Persian History and Culture. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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